Russia's war culture spills into schools: teachers face knives and death threats

A wave of violence is sweeping Russian schools, with teachers facing increasingly dangerous threats from students. One teacher in northwestern Russia was attacked with a scalpel by a 16-year-old pupil after trying to wake him in class. Experts link the surge in school violence to the brutalising effect of Russia's war in Ukraine.

A teacher at a school in northwestern Russia narrowly escaped serious injury after a 16-year-old student attacked her with a scalpel. The incident began when the teacher tried to wake the pupil who had fallen asleep during class — a moment that ended with the boy grabbing her from behind and pressing a sharp object to her throat. Initially believing it to be a pen, the teacher only realised it was a surgical blade when blood began to flow from her fingers. «Next time I'll stab you,» the student warned.

## A pattern of escalating threats

This incident is far from isolated. Across Russia, teachers report a sharp rise in threatening behaviour from students, with phrases like «Next time I'll kill you» increasingly heard in classrooms. School staff describe feeling powerless as disciplinary tools have eroded and students show little fear of consequences. In many cases, parents back their children against teachers, and school administrations pressure staff to stay quiet to avoid reputational damage.

Social researchers and psychologists in Russia have begun connecting this trend to the broader cultural consequences of the war in Ukraine. Years of state-promoted militarism, glorification of violence, and desensitisation to death — broadcast daily through state television and reinforced in school curricula — are, according to critics, producing a generation of young people with a distorted relationship to aggression and authority.

## War culture blamed for shift

Opposition-linked Russian media have published testimonies from teachers across multiple regions describing similar patterns: students arriving with weapons, making credible threats, and in some cases physically assaulting staff. Teachers who speak out often face pressure to retract their accounts or frame incidents as isolated misunderstandings. Several have been dismissed after going public.

The Kremlin has not publicly addressed the trend. Russian state media have largely avoided the topic, while independent journalists and educators continue to document cases through social networks and exile-based outlets. For many Russian teachers, the classroom — once considered a protected space — has become a frontline of its own.